Author: adminhkdsc

Thank you to those who participated in Senior SDC 2023, hosted over the past weekend! Following the weekend’s debates, the final results of the competition can now be announced.

The Grand Champions of this year’s SDC was GSIS 1, debating against IS 1 in a spectacular Grand Final round. We congratulate both them and the runner-up heartily.

Next, the Top 10 Speakers (with a 4-way tie at 3rd and 7th place respectively) are as follows:

1. Advik Sharma HKIS 1

2. Lauren Tse HKIS 1

3=. Andre Chan CIS 1

3=. Elisha Yao GSIS 1

3=. Nicholas Kong GSIS 1

3=. Jun Nam HKIS 1

7=. Adam Pei CIS 2

7=. Anson Tsui LSC 1

7=. Andrea Chow RCHK 1

7=. Isis Shing HYS 1

All tabs and the break have now been released publicly. They can be viewed at https://seniorsdc2023.calicotab.com/seniorsdc2023/

Payment receipts will be processed and sent to all teams who requested it as soon as possible.

Thank you once again to everyone, judges and teams alike, who participated in this SDC. We hope to see everyone again soon and we wish everyone the best of luck in your future debate ventures.

We are pleased to announce that Trials for the Hong Kong WIDPSC Team will be taking place on November 11, 2023, at St Paul’s Co-educational College. After the success of last year at Durban, South Africa – securing 3 out of the Top 20 Speaker spots – we look forward to writing the next chapter of our WIDPSC Team!

To ensure sufficient training time for the team, we have moved the trials to earlier in the school year (from January to November) and hopefully this will also be able to accommodate for diverse examination schedules in Hong Kong schools.

For all information regarding the Trials, WIDPSC speaking categories, and more, please refer to the PDF leaflet attached. Please pay particular attention to speech times, which have been modified since last year to best facilitate the schedule and effectiveness of the Trials.

The registration link is below. Please register by October 23 (Mon): https://forms.gle/APQGet9Rpasmv6FJ6

In order to facilitate the Trials, a registration fee of $100 will be collected from each competitor. Further details about payment will be forwarded after your registration is confirmed. Please keep an eye out for updates with further information about logistics on the competition day.

As with previous years, the top 10 speakers from the Trials will secure spots in the Hong Kong Team. Two additional reserve speakers will be offered a spot to train with the Hong Kong Team, with a potential chance of competing in WIDPSC 2024, subject to organisers’ discretion and competitor quotas.

We look forward to your registration and cannot wait to hear the young voices of our public speaking circuit. Building on the excellent results last year, we are ready to showcase the best of Hong Kong public speaking!

We are delighted to open applications for the 2024 Hong Kong’s World Schools Debating team. The team will participate at the World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC) held in person from 16th to 26th July in Belgrade, Serbia.

Hong Kong WSDC

The Hong Kong Debate & Speech Community will select an initial 8-to-10-person team, with the final five that will compete at WSDC decided in 2024. 

In addition, we will select a development squad of between 10-14 students. Those eligible for the development squad will have at least one additional year of high school after the current school year (graduating in 2025 or later).

Those selected to be part of either time will have approximately four hours of training a week until July 2024 and would be expected to attend competitions as part of the Hong Kong team.

Selections

In order to apply you must be no younger than 14 on 16th July 2024, and no older than 19. You must be attending a High School in Hong Kong. 

The decision on who is selected to trial, the membership of both the squads and the final team will be made only by the current head coaches of the HK WSDC team and the coaches of the Hong Kong development team. No one who is paid to coach any trialist will judge the trials. The coaches of HK WSDC will not consider the comments or recommendations from such sources either.  

Trials

Trials will be held via Zoom on weekday evenings from 18-22 October via Zoom (From 7pm HKT onwards), with the schedule depending on the trialists’ availability.

Prospective trialists will be required to submit their details and debating experiences by 23.59HKT on 10 Oct. All applicants will be informed whether they are called for a trial by 12 Oct. 

Those called to selections will be determined on the basis of their previous debating and speaking experience.

If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Harish Natarajan at hknatarajan@gmail.com or info@hkdsc.org

To apply please fill out the following form:

https://forms.gle/YX1Nt6JCxqqignuSA

We look forward to seeing your applications soon!

[Last Call for Judges!!]

A warm reminder to sign up as an Independent Adjudicator for our flagship HKSDC tournament happening on 7 and 8 October! Remuneration will be offered to the judges who kindly offer their time: HKD 100 per round for chairs, and HKD 50 per round for panelists. Link to sign up here: https://forms.gle/LvZCVo5N8aed1p6b9

For more information, please click on the above link, we can’t wait to see you all in-person on October 7-8!

We are delighted to announce that judge sign-ups are open for the highly-anticipated Hong Kong Senior SDC 2023 to be held on 7th and 8th October 2023. Our esteemed Motions Committee includes Harish Natarajan, Jason Xiao, and Brian Wong.

Please sign up using this form: https://forms.gle/VfufxYk35xZr7csj9.

Details:

Dates: 7 October: 8 am – 6:30 pm (preliminary rounds); 8 October 9 am – 5 pm (break rounds)

Location: Diocesan Boys’ School, 131 Argyle St, Mong Kok

Format: WSDC (8 min speeches with POIs and 4 min reply speeches)

Eligibility: Students who have graduated from high school with prior debating or judging experience

Our judges are immensely important to our competitions, not simply to ensure the smooth running of events, but to help student participants get consistently high-quality feedback to facilitate their improvement. We sincerely appreciate all the time and energy our judges contribute, and look forward to seeing you at Senior SDC 2023!

Schedule: 

Day 1

08:00 – 08:15:               Registration and roll-call

08:15 – 08:45:               Tournament briefing

08:45 – 10:25:               Round 1 prepared debate + feedback

10:25 – 10:40:               Break

10:40 – 10:55:               Prep time for round 2 semi-prepared debate

10:55 – 12:35:               Round 2 semi-prepared debate + feedback

12:35 – 13:15:               Lunch break

13:15 – 13:30:               Prep time for round 3 semi-prepared debate

13:30 – 15:10:               Round 3 semi-prepared debate + feedback

15:10 – 15:25:               Break

15:25 – 16:10:               Prep time for round 4 impromptu debate

16:10 – 17:40:               Round 4 impromptu debate (silent round)

17:40 – 18:00:               Tabulation of results

18:00 – 18:30:               Break announcement, prizes for top speakers

Day 2

09:15 – 09:30:               Registration and roll-call

09:30 – 11:00:               Quarter-final prepared debate

11:00 – 11:30:               Announcement of QF results and feedback

11:30 – 12:15:               Prep time for Semi-final impromptu debate

12:15 – 13:45:               Semi-final impromptu debate

13:45 – 14:15:               Announcement of SF results and feedback

14:15 – 15:00:               Prep time for grand-final impromptu debate

15:00 – 16:30:               Grand-final impromptu debate

16:30 – 17:00:               Announcement of GF result and prize presentation

Should you have any enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@hkdsc.org. We look forward to seeing you at SDC 2023!

As we enter the 2023-2024 academic year, we are elated to announce that the Senior Schools Debating Championships (SDC) is returning! Senior SDC has traditionally been the training ground for our representative teams, in preparation for the Team Trials held in late October. The motions will be selected by the HK team coaches Harish Natarajan and Jason Xiao, along with our excellent Adjudicator Core panel. Adding to the excitement, Senior SDC will be held in person this year for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. With all this in mind, we look forward to your enthusiastic response! 

Important information regarding the tournament and registration can be found below:

Team Registration Form: https://forms.gle/LiHHSkSfdKiDotTZ6 

Registration deadline: 18 September, 23:59 (All times in UTC +8) 

Date: 7 October 08:00-18:30 (preliminary rounds); 8 October 09:00-17:00 (break rounds). 

Venue: Diocesan Boys’ School 

Cost: HKD 400 per team

Eligibility: 3-5 members per team; Forms 4-6 / Years 10-13 / Grades 10-12.

Adjudicators: Each team must provide at least one adjudicator. A second adjudicator must accompany a second team. Teams unaccompanied by judges may be barred from debating or breaking on the days of the tournament. 

Team cap: 24 teams. Top 8 teams break to Quarterfinals. Priority for second teams will go to previously underrepresented schools.

Format: WSDC – 8-minute main speech with points of information, 4-minute replies. R1 is fully prepared (given both sides and motion), R2-3 are semi-prepared (given motion only), R4 is impromptu (45 minutes prep time). QF is fully prepared (given motion, given sides after Day 1), SF and GF are impromptu (45 minutes prep time).

Draw: R1 random; R2-4 power-paired; QF-GF folded knockout draw.

Awards: Top Ten Speaker awards (debaters contesting 3 or more prelim debates are eligible).

Schedule:

Day 1: Saturday 7 Oct

08:00 – 08:15: Registration and roll-call

08:15 – 08:45:               Tournament briefing

08:45 – 10:25:               Round 1 prepared debate + feedback

10:25 – 10:40:               Break

10:40 – 10:55:               Prep time for round 2 semi-prepared debate

10:55 – 12:35:               Round 2 semi-prepared debate + feedback

12:35 – 13:15:               Lunch break

13:15 – 13:30:               Prep time for round 3 semi-prepared debate

13:30 – 15:10:               Round 3 semi-prepared debate + feedback

15:10 – 15:25:               Break

15:25 – 16:10:               Prep time for round 4 impromptu debate

16:10 – 17:40:               Round 4 impromptu debate (silent round)

17:40 – 18:00:             Tabulation of results

18:00 – 18:30:               Break announcement, prizes for top speakers

Day 2: Sunday 8 Oct

09:00 – 09:30:             Registration and roll-call

09:30 – 11:00:              Quarter-final prepared debate

11:00 – 11:30:               Announcement of QF results and feedback

11:30 – 12:15:               Prep time for Semi-final impromptu debate

12:15 – 13:45:               Semi-final impromptu debate

13:45 – 14:15:               Announcement of SF results and feedback

14:15 – 15:00:               Prep time for Grand-final impromptu debate

15:00 – 16:30:               Grand-final impromptu debate

16:30 – 17:00:               Announcement of GF result and prize presentation

Please note that the schedule for the tournament is tentative and subject to change depending on the final team cap. Motions for fully prepared and semi-prepared rounds will be sent 2 to 3 weeks before the tournament dates. 

For more information and any inquiries, please contact us at info@hkdsc.org. We look forward to seeing your teams and judges at SDC 2023! 

Dear HKDSC Community,

Save the dates! We are so excited to bring you more events in the 2023-24 academic year to promote debate and public speaking to the wider student community in Hong Kong.

• Senior SDC – October 7-8 2023
• WSDC HK Team Trials – Late October 2023 (TBC)
• WIDPSC HK Team Trials – November 11 2023
• Junior SDC – March 16-17 2024
• Junior Indivs – May 4 2024
• Flashpoint 2024 – Mid-July 2024 (TBC)

For more details on these events, please access our calendar tab or reach out to us for more information at info@hkdsc.org.

Our best wishes to you and your families this holiday season!

Sincerely,
The HKDSC

Dear members of the Hong Kong public speaking community,

Following on from our previous post, please also find here the winners of the Grand Finals of each category at Junior Indivs 2023. A special congratulations to the follow four speakers:

• Regina Uy-Tioco (Hong Kong International School)  – Overall Champion

• Max Lee (Diocesan Boys’ School) – Persuasive Speaking Champion
• Kaitlyn Liu (Hong Kong International School) – Interpretive Reading Champion
• Brianna Xiao (Diocesan Girls’ School) – Impromptu Speaking Champion

Congratulations again to all the competitors at the Grand Finals as listed below — your amazing speeches stood out from the 60 competitors and it was a pleasure to hear them on May 6. We cannot wait to see what you get up to next. 

Trophies and medals for the finalists and Top 10 Speakers are being arranged via post. We hope to see you at our future events soon! 

On May 6, 60 students participated in the live Impromptu Speaking round and Final Rounds of the 2023 Junior Individual Public Speaking Championships. This was preceded by video rounds for the Persuasive Speaking and Interpretive Reading categories in the weeks before. Many outstanding performances were delivered, and we were delighted to see the passion speakers put into every speech they gave.

Please find the top 10 speakers overall, and of each category, in the pictures below. A hearty congratulations to the winners and the top speakers of the tournament!

Before we sign off, we also would like to extend a special thank you to every judge who helped make this event a special and rewarding learning experience for every participant, tirelessly assessing recorded speeches and readings, and taking the time to write encouraging and constructive feedback. We look forward to seeing more budding public speakers at our future events, furthering their talents or even representing Hong Kong!

Team Hong Kong has just returned from the World Individuals Debating and Public Speaking Championship (WIDPSC) 2023, following a week of intense competition in Durban, South Africa. A hearty congratulations to the competitors for valiantly and eloquently representing Hong Kong through eight rounds of preliminaries, two flights of finals and a Grand Finals, and below are the results:

Adele Li (HK01) – Chinese International School

Tingting Zhang (HK02) – Chinese International School

–   Finalist — Parliamentary Debating

Andrea Chow (HK03) – Renaissance College Hong Kong

Evan Chow (HK04) – Diocesan Boys’ School

Mark Jin-kang Lee (HK05) – Diocesan Boys’ School

–   8^th Overall Best Speaker

–   Finalist — After Dinner Speaking

–   Finalist — Interpretive Reading

Christine Lam (HK06) – Hong Kong International School

–   Grand Finalist and 1^st Runner Up — After Dinner Speaking

–   Finalist — After Dinner Speaking

–   Finalist — Parliamentary Debating

Peony Sham (HK07) – Harrow International School Hong Kong

–   7^th Overall Best Speaker

–   Finalist — Persuasive Speaking

–   Finalist — Interpretive Reading

–   Finalist — Impromptu Speaking

Cynthia Huang (HK08) – Hong Kong International School

–   Finalist — Interpretive Reading

Nandini Tatiwala (HK09) – Hong Kong International School

Hilary Yeuk-Hey Tam (HK10) – Diocesan Girls’ School

–   12^th Overall Best Speaker

–   Finalist — Impromptu Speaking

Lily Haylett (HK11) – South Island School

Vijay Narayanan (HK12) – Island School

Transitioning to our first offline tournament was challenging, compounded by the 26-hour flight it took for us to travel to Durban and land the night before Day 1. Not only did the team soldier on, but they quickly adapted and forged great friendships with their fellow speakers on the world stage.

Thanks must be given to the Hong Kong Debate and Speech Community (HKDSC) for logistics support with the Open Trials, and to the coaches who held weekly trainings – Ms Joan Cho, Ms Lilian Chow, Mr Leo Zen, Mr Kenneth Chan, Ms My-Thanh Mac, Markandeya Karthik, Jason Wong, Maki Flauta, Megan Chan, Nicholas Chung, Chloe Yeung. We also extend our heartfelt thanks to the two parent chaperones, Thomas and April, for their endless support for our students in the past few weeks.

Finally, and most importantly, thanks must go to Mr Shaun McCabe and the Clifton School, for hosting this first offline tournament since 2019, allowing the 12 students from Hong Kong to have the experience of a lifetime. We can’t wait to be back again next year.